A Kinder, Gentler Gridiron
A Kinder, Gentler Gridiron is the fifth episode of Bolts and Blip, which introduces the feared Blood Bots. Appearing in Featured Characters *Thunderbolts **Bolts (main protagonist) **Steve (supporting protagonist) Minor Characters *Thunderbolts **Ratch-8 *Garry Antagonists *Plingmonger (main antagonist) (debut) *Reprogrammed Thunderbolts **Gridiron **Saedee **Welder **Blip *Blood Bots (debut) Synopsis Coach Gridiron is reprogrammed to help him find his gentler side, and everyone tries new programming to improve themselves. A battle with the Blood Bots helps them to fight as a team without new upgrades. Plot The episode starts setting on an oil bath, similar to a modern hot tub, where Blip is spending time in. He accepts an offer of a drink in a metal pineapple and Saedee is next to him. He goes for a kiss, but Gridiron wakes him up and asks what was his major malfunction. Blip screams and falls over. Gridiron sarcastically says he doesn't believe "AGGH" is on the battle-bot repair manual. Steve volunteers to look it up. Blip apologizes, explaining that he slipped into his daydream program. Gridiron starts over, explaining this team is in last place and began to explain everything that was wrong. He tells Zach-7 he was unfit to eat the ball bearings from a bowl of waste oil, Welder that he was a stain on the shorts of sportsmanship and finally he tells a random bot that he was in the loser league. Blip asked about the whereabouts of Saedee and Bolts replied that he didn't know, because Blip was the one obsessed with her. Blip explains that he was not obsessed, but asked if Gridiron would notice if he went and spied on her, proving Bolts' point. He leaves the room and sees Saedee, holding flowers in front of Tigrr Jaxxon's dressing room. Blip asked what was going on, to which Saedee couldn't explain and when asked about the flowers, she replied that it was a toilet brush and begins brushing herself with the flowers. Unfortunately, Tigrr Jaxxon opens the door to see Saedee perform such a disgusting act. Saedee stops brushing and says hi and Tigrr Jaxxon greets her back as Jeff. She corrects him and Tigrr said he was close. Saedee beings asking Tigrr if he could join her discussing strategies by a warm microwave with soft music, but she later realized she was going too far and adds that it was over a cup of oil. Tigrr sees the flowers and is pleased, but he explains that usually a man gives those to a woman. She tries to explain the flowers were a toilet brush, but Tigrr sees the attempt to win his affection and explains that he prefers his ladies more feminine. The two ladies at his side say "Yeah, Jeff!" Tigrr then proceeds to go to a hot oil tub but gets Saedee's name wrong, calling her Bobby. She corrects him, but he says it was closer. Saedee then walks away in shame. After this, Blip asks what did Tigrr have that he didn't have and Steve comes in and answers manliness. The Thunderbolts are seen preparing themselves for a match when Gridiron comes in to rant. Bolts complains that Gridiron was acting more of a jerk then usual. Blip disagrees, saying a tough commander is all part of being a battle-bot. They then see Gridiron screaming at a wad of paper, getting Blip to change his mind. Gridiron calls them shiftless piles of slag and adds they are incapable of winning against a broke-down blender, to which Steve compliments him. Then Gridiron says that their new opponents are the "Bloob Bots". He tells that anything called the Bloob Bots would be more worthless than they were. Bolts becomes confident and tells that they were not scary in a funny, sarcastic way. In an instant, Klank Lockton introduces the new team, actually being called the Blood Bots, who were giant, ferocious looking robots. Gridiron says that he meant Blood Bots and yells at the clipboard to get with the program. He throws it into the battlefield. The Blood Bots see it and load their cannons. Blip notes that those weren't standard water rifles. Gridiron explains that those were water-zookas, hydro-grenades and explodo-splash rockets as a Blood Bot was getting ready to shoot. He fires a water-filled rocket which obliterates the clipboard. Gridiron tells the team to go battle and the Thunderbolts rush to the field. While they use their water rifles, the Blood Bots use their other weapons to fight. Gridiron tells Bolts to move his can during a barrage of grenades. One of them explodes, rusting Saedee and another Thunderbolts member. They shoot three rockets, rusting Ratch-8, which leaves Blip and Bolts as the only survivors. The two are surrounded by the Blood Bots and a rocket explodes, sending water carrying the two toward Gridiron rusting all three. Gridiron is infuriated and heats up. Steve tries to stop him from exploding, but unfortunately, he does, sending his head in the air and a Blood Bot catches it. After the game, the Thunderbolts are busy recovering. One member moves a wheelbarrow carrying Gridiron's rusted parts and dumps the parts on the floor. Suddenly, Garry calls and asks if Gridiron had a rough day. Gridiron greets him. Garry explains that Earth Command decided to give Gridiron a mental makeover, due to his constant head explosions. Gridiron tries to deny it, but he agrees. Garry advises that he get reprogrammed, other wise he'll be reformatted. He leaves for a croquet match. Gridiron tells Steve to get the best reprogrammer in the book, but Steve covers his ears and tells Blip to get the cheapest one. Not long after, a new re-programmer called Plingmonger arrives and asks who is the patient. Gridiron yells at him to answer that he was. The re-programmer comments that he was a terabyte of rage. He then explained that he backs up his old personality in his drive and then he can install more favourable behavioral programs, including his favourite game, Super Monkey Tennis. Gridiron replies "I don't want your monkey tennis!" and he just wanted to be nicer and yelled an insult, sending him crashing into a locker. He tries to find his data port around his bottom and Gridiron explained that it was in his head. The re-programmer introduces the list of programs and then installs them. Soon, in the diner, Welder was gambling with other Thunderbolts members (this part was cut off in Vortexx) when Gridiron comes in. Welder denies that he was gambling and said he was giving it to an orphanage (also cut off). Gridiron then tells Welder that he was beautiful. Welder asked if it was in a creepy way, to which Gridiron replied that he was beautiful as him and that his children are beautiful just the way they are. He then tells them to go for a group hug. Bolts, sitting in front of the counter, said that he wasn't shouting at them and added that this was going to be awesome. Blip said that he wasn't sure. Later, there was a basic water rifle match between the Galaxy All-Stars and the Thunderbolts. Saedee asks Gridiron for suggestions about defense and Gridiron replied that Saedee needs to find the Saedee that's waiting to get out. Steve panics, shouting that they were being slaughtered out there and asked Gridiron what to do. He replied that they do what comes naturally, stop and smell the roses. A member gets rusted, his arm falling towards the two. Gridiron asked if Steve really looked at a rusted, dismembered arm and added it was beautiful in its own way. After the game, the Thunderbolts were recovering again. Blip groaned about the amount of pain he suffered for a robot. Bolts tried to think of something positive, but he had nothing. Gridiron comes in and tells that they should be proud because they tried their best and that they were versing their "friends" the Blood Bots. He wishes them a special day and exits the room. Blip and Bolts panicked, the latter saying that they were deader than a twisted, broken and mangled unidentifiable piece of metal behind a dumpster. Saedee then decides to find Plingmonger and make Gridiron his old self again, but sees Tigrr Jaxxon in the hallway. He suggested that since her team took a beating, they would discuss battle tactics; man to man. Angered, Saedee orders Plingmonger to give her a feminine program. Plingmonger gives her a list of programs and she said that she wanted all of them and she gets them installed. At the diner, Blip assures Bolts not to worry about Gridiron and that it was reliable Saedee that kept the Thunderbolts together. Saedee comes in the room with a yellow dress and a European accent greeting the boys. Blip's lower jaw drops completely and when Bolts puts it back on, Blip added that she was reliable and gorgeous. The new Saedee asks two random men to get her a oil drink and the two fight over about who gets her said drink. She walks over to Blip and Bolts. Blip asked about her change in behaviour and she explained that she finally embraced her feminine side with the help of Plingmonger. She drops her handkerchief, waiting for someone to pick it up, but Blip points to it saying it was near her. She then says that he was hopeless. Then Tigrr Jaxxon comes in and becomes immediately infatuated with Saedee and invites her to "paint the town". Blip comes in with some paint and says that he's a master at doing trim, but just before he could add more, Saedee pushes him aside and tells Tigrr that she has a special shade of fabulous just for him and they walk away. Blip is annoyed and says out loud that Tigrr Jaxxon walked away with the girl he loves; he stutters for a bit and says likes instead. Bolts asks what will he do and guesses he'll beat him up sarcastically. Blip replies he'll find out what "paint the town" actually means. A montage on Saedee's date features scenes of Blip following them and something bad happens to the latter. First, Blip hides in a trash can where Tigrr throws away a cup in it, hitting Blip's head. The nest scene shows Saedee and Tigrr in the diner again with Blip hiding under the table. He accidentally trips a waiter and Tigrr accidentally spills oil on Blip. The final scene show Tigrr carries Saedee over a pool of oil and walks ahead. Blip, while trying to jump over the pool, fails. Tigrr was busy showing off his body to Saedee but then he finds Blip in his closet and kicks him out, all the while Blip explaining that he was curious about the term "paint the town". Saedee taunts that someday he'll learn to be a real man. Bolts asked him what happened and Blip replied that painting the town had nothing to do with painting at all and that there was only one thing to do. Bolts suggested to grow up, but Blip wanted Plingmonger to up his manliness right now. Bolts asked if he could make him cooler too. After Plingmonger installs a macho program, Blip walks with pride and asked "How's the hammer hanging dude" to Ratch-8 and walked away with Ratch-8 left in confusion. Blip then rhetorically asked like a macho-man who was the man repeatedly, much to Ratch-8's confusion. Meanwhile at the diner, Welder tells Bolts and old time joke and Bolts asked if it was funny if he was old. The new Blip enters with a box of Dloob Cola, drinks one and crushes the can onto his head asking if anyone wanted to arm wrestle. When they say nothing, he asks if they're scared and tosses the box to Welder. Blip then tries to bench press a table, but fails. Bolts becomes disappointed, asking if this was Plingmonger's doing, to which Blip says yes and says he was turned into a man's man's man's man. He then suggested for a guy's night out and belly flops on Welder. The latter says he needs to go. Then the Blood Bots enter the room and Blip calls them the "Bloob Bots". He comes up to them and asks what were they doing on his "turf". The Blood Bots reply that they are hear to recreate and that the foosball table is superior. Blip calls them weak-kneed girly bots to which Bolts tells him to shut up. Ignoring Bolts, he challenges the Blood Bots to a bet that the loser of their upcoming match has to floss the winner's back hatch, while belly flopping the chief Blood Bot. The Blood Bots accept the challenge, but find his chest maneuver confusing. Soon, a young, hip Welder enters the room with gold shoulder plates, a rapper's bling and some headphones. He explains that Plingmonger reprogrammed him to be more youthful. He break dances and tells Blip that they should find some "shorties". Blip dares the Blood Bots with a "come here" gesture, then leaves. Back at the dressing room, Bolts is angry about Plingmonger's mess. Steve comes in and says that he usually doesn't like crossing the line between command and ground troops. Bolts says it's okay, he doesn't like him too. Steve agrees, but he says he was worried about the Blood Bots. They were like nothing anyone has ever seen before and no one knows who made them or just what their weapons can really do. Bolts asks Steve to get Gridiron to come up with something, but Steve tells him he's making fiber optic macrame. Gridiron is seen making a mouse pad. Bolts explains that Blip was being a macho maniac. Then the camera sees Blip bang on a soda machine which makes it collapse on him. Bolts mentions Saedee and Welder and they are seen in the diner where Welder was dancing and Saedee was commenting on how cute he was. Steve then says that they have a common problem. Bolts figured it was constipation and Steve agreed for a bit, but said no. He concludes their problem is Doctor Plingmonger and they should set him straight. Steve then reluctantly asks Bolts to help him. Earth Command then announces that the Thunderbolts and Blood Bots prepare for their next slaughter-fest; they meant match. Bolts accepts and they shake hands. At the match, Klank starts it and the Blood Bots are guarding a pie-looking object from a short moon rock hill behind it. The more feminine Saedee asks the Thunderbolts to take care of those big, bad robots. The macho Blip charges after the Blood Bots. Gridiron assures they're perfect just the way they are; even hideously mangled. Meanwhile, Steve and Bolts open the door to Plingmonger's place, anticipating to see some mind altering equipment they'll find inside. They are shocked to find that the room is small, decorated with motivational posters. They then start to question what kind of doctor is he. Plingmonger suddenly arrives, catching them snooping around. Bolts and Steve then tackle him, demanding his secret. Bolts finds out that he's really a janitor. Plingmonger reveals that he's a janitor with a "Robot Programming for Idiots" book and a dream. Steve demands the drive with the Thunderbolts' old personalities. After that, they rush to match, with Plingmonger offering reasonable cleaning rates. As they run, they tell each other to go faster. Back at the match, Blip bumps into a Blood Bot who prepares to shoot him. Blip remains confident and says he's not scared of his weapon. The Blood Bot then fires a load of rockets at Blip, rusting his legs. Blip challenges them to bring it on, still feeling brave. The Blood Bots then step on Blip while going their path. Steve and Bolts arrive to reprogram Gridiron first. Gridiron tells that they all feel pain in this life, but when the old personality comes back, he yells at them to get on the field. Saedee asks the Blood Bots to give her a hand, but they aim at her with their guns. Steve and Bolts back up her old personality and she runs away. Welder decides to go home and play some "vids" but when Bolts and Steve reprogram him, he wanted to take a nap. Everyone but Blip was reprogrammed, who was busy getting stepped on by the Blood Bots. At the diner, Blip apologizes for blowing the game. Saedee corrects him, saying they all blew the game and added she'd appreciate it if everyone forgot she acted like a "ditzy bimbo". Welder said that too, but forgot what to say mid-speech. Steve whispered he'd appreciate it if Bolts never mentioned that they worked together. Bolts says that he'll enjoy reminding him for a long time. Gridiron passes them, demanding that they forget about the incident. Tigrr passes by and asks "Jeff" if she'd ever see that Saedee girl again, tell her to call. Bolts told Blip that he lost the bet and he was supposed to flossing the Blood Bots' back hatch. Blip replied that he hired a janitor to do it for him. The janitor was no doubt Plingmonger who was scrubbing one of the Blood Bots. He complained that this was his night job and he still had a dream. The Blood Bot tells him to shut his noise hole and scrub. He ordered him to go lower and lower as the episode ends. Trivia *Plingmonger's voice changes after Steve and Bolts find his home. *This is one of the episodes where Blip is not the main protagonist. Category:Episodes